Friday 31 December 1999

It was Friday, under the sign of Capricorn. The US president was Bill Clinton (Democratic). In that special week of December people in US were listening to Smooth by Santana.
In UK The Millennium Prayer by Cliff Richard was in the top 5 hits.
The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sofia Coppola, was one of the most viewed movies released in 1999
while Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom was one of the best selling books.But much more happened that day: find out below..

Famous Deaths:

Elliot Richardson: American lieutenant and politician 11th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1999).

Facts:

Five hijackers, who had been holding 155 hostages on an Indian Airlines plane, leave the plane with two Islamic clerics that they had demanded be freed.

US turns over complete administration of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian Government as stipulated in the Torrijos-Carter Treaty of 1977 free of liens and debts, in good operation and with a $1 billion investment program in place designed to ensure continued first class service to the maritime world. At the transfer, more than 97 percent of the Canal's 9,000 workers are Panamanian.

Boris Yeltsin, the first president of Russia, resigns as President of Russia, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President.

Books

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to ...

"In the spring of 1984, I went to the northwest of France, to Normandy, to prepare an NBC documentary on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, the massive and daring Allied invasion of Europe that marked the beginning of the end ...

For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.Now